9100 Attendance

[kreed5120]

Ohh good it's approaching that time of year where the ABJ prints it's annual Infocision is a money pit article where they detail how many tickets the University bought.

[Steve1982]

17 hours ago, skip-zip said:

 

I've witnessed some of this first hand.  A big difference in loyalty down South.  The businesses, people and alums of Lafayette support their team.  They decorate the friggin town on game days.  When have you seen that in Akron?  Likewise, Arkansas State grads don't bandwagon with Arkansas, and App. State grads don't bandwagon with the Tarheels.  There's something different with that hometown/homeschool loyalty culture here.  

I've been living by App State since September 2016. They do support the teams and the school tremendously around here. There is quite a bit of support for Tennessee and Virginia tech here too but on game day App State gets the attention. I don't see a lot of professional support, that may be the big difference with App State and Akron. There are some Carolina Panther fans but less so for the Charlotte Hornets and baseball is about none. We get almost all of the Braves and Reds games on TV but I see no one walking or talking MLB. When I go to Akron I see Browns, Cavs, Indians, tOSU then Akron support. So I'm not sure if professional sports is THE biggest detriment to the Zips but it sure seems to be a common factor when comparing to some of the southern Universities.

[skip-zip]

49 minutes ago, Steve1982 said:

I don't see a lot of professional support, that may be the big difference with App State and Akron.

 

Akron does get some decent CASH support from the business community.  But I am talking about VISIBLE support.  I can recall walking through the commercial districts of some of those Sun Belt cities and seeing posters in windows, painted signs, and things like that.  You never see that in Akron.  Most people in Akron think that Ohio State is the home team.   I've also witnessed some huge "everyone comes back to campus" homecoming parties, which you never see in Akron either.   Akron grads would go to a homecoming gathering in Columbus before they would go to one here.  

 

In general, I just think I see a lot higher level of loyalty to the local D-1 schools down south.  

[zippy5]

They don't have much else down there

[skip-zip]

3 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

They don't have much else down there

 

 

But they could easily bandwagon with the big schools that are in their state or region, like many of the people around here.  

[zipsoutsider]

9 hours ago, Steve1982 said:

I've been living by App State since September 2016. They do support the teams and the school tremendously around here. There is quite a bit of support for Tennessee and Virginia tech here too but on game day App State gets the attention. I don't see a lot of professional support, that may be the big difference with App State and Akron. There are some Carolina Panther fans but less so for the Charlotte Hornets and baseball is about none. We get almost all of the Braves and Reds games on TV but I see no one walking or talking MLB. When I go to Akron I see Browns, Cavs, Indians, tOSU then Akron support. So I'm not sure if professional sports is THE biggest detriment to the Zips but it sure seems to be a common factor when comparing to some of the southern Universities.

You have a valid point. There are a lot more Volunteer fans in TN than Titans fans. Tennessee has decased where UT was always the best game in town. 

[zipsoutsider]

If I were the AD, I would approach attendance with a design think8bg (Human Centered Design) approach. They are trying to solclve this from an athlete's point of view. We have t9 go a different route and be a little more systematic than the piece-meal approach we have taken. 

 

I think the Texas AD is taking things in the right direction, for his program.

 

Texas AD Chris Del Conte explains plan to improve football game-day experience

[Cykron]

On 2/15/2018 at 3:29 PM, UAZippers said:

I haven't seen anyone post this yet. I apologize if I just missed it. The NCAA has released the attendance data for every team last season. Akron had the second largest increase in attendance for all of FBS from 10,337 in 2016 to 19,569 last year. 

 

Obviously winning must solve all problems! Or, maybe last year was the number fudging year to keep our multi-year average up.

 

Another interesting note is that the MAC was dead last in attendance league-wide at 15,394 per game. The Sun Belt came in 9th with over 2,000 more people per game.

 

You can also really see the divide between the P5 and G5. The lowest average attendance in P5 (ACC) was 48,442. The highest G5 average (American) was 28,669.

 

You are welcome.  Signed, Iowa State fans who made the trip.  

 

Seriously, a 9000 increase.  That is huge.  Congrats.  

[Hilltopper]

Even OHSAA is seeing a decline in attendance for all sports. 

http://www.cantonrep.com/sports/20180416/canton-still-waiting-on-status-of-2018-high-school-football-state-finals

 

“The overall trend — not just in high school sports, but in college and pro sports — is the number of people buying tickets is going down,” said Stried, who said Ohio’s attendance numbers are still among the best in the country. “I don’t think there’s just one reason for that. It’s a combination of several factors and we’re trying to identify things that we can do to help attendance. It’s still up to the consumer about where to go out that night, but we’re asking ourselves, ‘What are the things we can do to make it easier for them?’”

 

Digging deeper, there are two really troubling trends from the OHSAA’s perspective.

One, high school attendance in central Ohio is down in every sport, not just football. This is a bad sign considering it’s also the part of Ohio that is growing the most. (In general, northeast Ohio and southwest Ohio typically draw the largest crowds, Stried said.)

 

The second troubling trend is that student sections are getting smaller.

“There are exceptions — like (Cincinnati) Moeller at this year’s state basketball tournament — but overall, it’s kind of a trend that mirrors the overall attendance,” Stried said.

The 2017 state cross country tournament actually posted the second-highest attendance in history at 12,054, but the OHSAA’s two biggest revenue sources are ticket sales from football and boys basketball — and both are trending down.

[ZipsVoice]

4 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

The second troubling trend is that student sections are getting smaller.

HT's right.  This indeed is happening in NEO.  I work HS B-ball games all winter and spring, and I am appalled when school rich in tradition in the area can't get more than 100 students, at best, in their student sections.  And that's for their big rivalry games!  Schools like Barberton, Stow, Hudson, Wadsworth, Solon, Mentor and more are having their student sections filled with grade-school kids whose Moms and Dads are at the game.  I've discussed with about 5 ADs and they are all trying to do innovative things to get them tere, including dances after the games, free food, free t-shirts, boy-girl doubleheaders, white-outs and black-outs....they are frustrated, and the trend has been visual for the past 5 seasons. 

[zippy5]

PA is having this same debate right now on state tourney attendance. There was an article on the front page of Yahoo on MLB attendance.. It is what it is, people don't go to as many sporting events as they used to.

[Balsy]

People are oversaturated with things to do nowadays.  The sports world may need to find a way to revolutionize the game-day experience.  I like what @ZipsVoice said that it's appalling that students don't go to the rivalry game, of all games. I personally wonder if the over-saturation and easy accessibility of it all with a black-mirror (cellphone reference) in your hand that getting excited about the "big-game" isn't as exciting anymore.

[ZipsVoice]

2 minutes ago, Balsy said:

People are oversaturated with things to do nowadays.  The sports world may need to find a way to revolutionize the game-day experience.  I like what @ZipsVoice said that it's appalling that students don't go to the rivalry game, of all games. I personally wonder if the over-saturation and easy accessibility of it all with a black-mirror (cellphone reference) in your hand that getting excited about the "big-game" isn't as exciting anymore.

Balsy...don't know if you did the same, but I - we- all played sandlot versions of "the game" because I wasn't good enough to make the teams.  So the varsity games were a step up for me, to see the kids that were better than me play at a level I couldn't.  I think your post mentioning the black-mirror, and the fact kids now can become "great" in a video setting, and that high school varsity sports can't hold a candle to the video gymnastics of the on-line game makes it boring for them to go live.  Had a few Fat Tires after the Spring Game so maybe I didn't make sense here....

[Balsy]

35 minutes ago, ZipsVoice said:

Balsy...don't know if you did the same, but I - we- all played sandlot versions of "the game" because I wasn't good enough to make the teams.  So the varsity games were a step up for me, to see the kids that were better than me play at a level I couldn't.  I think your post mentioning the black-mirror, and the fact kids now can become "great" in a video setting, and that high school varsity sports can't hold a candle to the video gymnastics of the on-line game makes it boring for them to go live.  Had a few Fat Tires after the Spring Game so maybe I didn't make sense here....

 

You're all good, I did as well play the sandlot version myself.  Looked forward to the yearly "turkey-bowl" with all the kids from the neighborhood who were home on thanksgiving sliding around in the mud.  My chemistry co-worker and I were stunned the otherday, we did all these super awesome gas-law demos in class (things that would have blown my mind in HS) and almost all of my classes were completely unimpressed.  She remarked "we've lost the war to video games".

 

I guess it's more than just video-games though, they appear to want instant gratification with it.  Why sit through the whole game, when you'll have someone post a snapchat video of a big play you'll watch and then go back to something else.  IDK, maybe I'm just being an old man here (ironic because I'm the baby here lol)

 

[Cykron]

Stayed up until midnight last night watching a cable replay of our best game ever (Nov 2011 Iowa State 28 point underdog against #2 Oklahoma State and won in 2OT).  There is no way that the "comforts" of home compare in any way to being at the game that broke the BCS system (put Alabama in the national championship game). 

 

I go to every game expecting it will be a "had to be there" experience.  Including our game at Akron!  And it happened.  Reserved an entire lot.  Had a great tailgate.  And I won the 50/50 raffle.  Can't do that at home!

[Sergeant Zip]

WSU inflating attendance?  They are also dealing with a $67 million athletic budget deficit.

[JZip23]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-growing-problem-empty-seats-1535634001

[Cykron]

23 hours ago, JZip23 said:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-growing-problem-empty-seats-1535634001

 

 

The story leads with the Minnesota Golden Goofers.  What do you expect?  

 

I don't think Zips fans will be adding testimony about lack of fan attendance in Lincoln and Ames.  We will be heading over for a full 10 hours of tailgating before our game today . . . all in scattered rain and thunderstorms.  

[Dr Z]

City of Akron ranked 185th best city for football fans by Adam McCann, a financial writer.

 

 

Source: WalletHub

[kreed5120]

I quit reading when I saw he had Miami (FL) ranked 6th overall. Both the Dolphins and Hurricanes have trouble filling their stadiums even when they have good teams...

[Cykron]

3 hours ago, Dr Z said:

City of Akron ranked 185th best city for football fans by Adam McCann, a financial writer.

 

 

Source: WalletHub

 

 

Strange ranking.  Was Canton lumped with Akron (probably not, since Kent has its own listing) or excluded because they don't have their own team?  

 

"WalletHub compared more than 240 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional football team across 21 key metrics. Our data set ranges from number of NFL and college football teams to average ticket price for an NFL game to fan friendliness."

 

Seems like several of their metrics would rule out almost all US cities because they don't have an NFL team.  

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, Cykron said:

 

 

Strange ranking.  Was Canton lumped with Akron (probably not, since Kent has its own listing) or excluded because they don't have their own team?  

 

"WalletHub compared more than 240 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional football team across 21 key metrics. Our data set ranges from number of NFL and college football teams to average ticket price for an NFL game to fan friendliness."

 

Seems like several of their metrics would rule out almost all US cities because they don't have an NFL team.  

As far as I understand it only factored in D1 football and NFL cities. Canton would therefore not be included. I just feel the metrics are kind of BS. Just sorting by the NFL ranks they ranked Cleveland 27th out of 30 cities. I wonder what kind of attendance and fan support those other 29 cities would have is they sucked like the Browns have for the past 20 years. Sure, some cities like Green Bay and Oakland would still be doing well, but no way LA, Miami, Charlotte, Indianapolis etc. would be doing better. If this study was conducted in 5 years using the exact same metrics the numbers will look completely different as of course the teams that are currently winning are attracting larger attendances and are able to command higher ticket prices due to bandwagon fans. A different sport, but Cavs are witnessing 1st hand the mass exodus of bandwagon fans. If a similar study was done on the NBA the Cavs would have been a top 5 "basketball fan base." This year they would have slid into the 20s. 

[zippy5]

You're overthinking this. "Best city for football fans," not "best football fans." Cleveland offers the Browns and Cleveland weather.. it's not a great offering.

[kreed5120]

I see your point. These rankings make a lot more sense when you put it that way.

[Cykron]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

As far as I understand it only factored in D1 football and NFL cities. Canton would therefore not be included. I just feel the metrics are kind of BS. Just sorting by the NFL ranks they ranked Cleveland 27th out of 30 cities. I wonder what kind of attendance and fan support those other 29 cities would have is they sucked like the Browns have for the past 20 years. Sure, some cities like Green Bay and Oakland would still be doing well, but no way LA, Miami, Charlotte, Indianapolis etc. would be doing better. If this study was conducted in 5 years using the exact same metrics the numbers will look completely different as of course the teams that are currently winning are attracting larger attendances and are able to command higher ticket prices due to bandwagon fans. A different sport, but Cavs are witnessing 1st hand the mass exodus of bandwagon fans. If a similar study was done on the NBA the Cavs would have been a top 5 "basketball fan base." This year they would have slid into the 20s. 

 

Indeed, fans of winning teams are some of the least loyal.  I went to the Iowa State game at Kansas last week.  Their fans are crapping all over their team because they know they aren't Top 10 caliber this year.  You find out how loyal fans are when the going get rough, like in Cleveland.  

 

A few years ago, I recall someone using a formula to determine the "most loyal fan base."  They divided total attendance by wins over a three year period.  Iowa State was #1.